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Submission to the Review of Export Policies and Programs Business for Millennium Development Executive Director, Mark Ingram Introduction At the request of the Federal Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, Business for Millennium Development (B4MD) is making a submission to the Mortimer Review. B4MD is a not for profit organisation that has been established to encourage Australian companies to explore business opportunities at the vast “Base of the Economic Pyramid” (BoP) marketplace which contains some 4 Billion people whose income is less than USD2 per day. The Asia Pacific region – our largest and fastest growing trade region – contains two-thirds of the so-called global Base of the Pyramid marketplace. The founding members of Business for Millennium Development (B4MD) are KPMG, IBM, IAG, Visy, Grey Global and World Vision Australia. Our organization has the formal endorsement of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Australian Federal Government (we are partfunded by AusAID). B4MD was launched in 2007 and this year in October we will co-host (with UNDP) our inaugural Business Summit inviting the senior management of some 150+ Australian companies to hear from some of the worlds leading companies about how they are doing business at the BoP marketplace. The “Base of the Economic Pyramid”1 has become a major source of business for multinational companies trading in emerging markets. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) released a report last year entitled “The Next 4 Billion”2 which estimates that the market at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) is worth in excess of US$5 Trillion in purchasing power. Asia, in particular, has a massive market at the Base of the Economic Pyramid. The IFC report states, “Asia has by far the largest BOP market: 2.86 billion people with income of $3.47 trillion. This BoP market represents 83% of the region’s population and 42% of the purchasing power—a significant share of Asia’s 1 In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the four billion people who live on less than $2 per day, typically in developing countries. The phrase “bottom of the pyramid” is used in particular by people developing new models of doing business that deliberately target that demographic, often using new technology. This field is also often referred to as the "Base of the Pyramid" or just the "BoP". Several books and journal articles have been written on the potential market by members of business schools offering consultancy on the burgeoning market. They include The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by C.K. Prahalad of the University of Michigan and Capitalism at the Crossroads by Stuart L. Hart of Cornell University “The Next 4 Billion – Market size and business strategy at the Base of the Pyramid” (2007). International Finance Corporation and World Resources Institute. Quote taken from page 9 of the Executive Summary. 2 rapidly growing consumer market”. Serving the Base of the Pyramid involves the provision of products and services to the world’s poor. The marketplace is potentially massive for companies innovative enough to successfully develop beneficial products and services. For example, Vodafone has successfully trialled their M-PESA mobile phone banking service in Africa and Afghanistan and expects to supply 40 million low-income Indian customers starting this year. Hindustan Unilever has sales in India exceeding US$3.5 Billion – the majority of which goes to low-income consumers. IBM has business in India valued at over US$1Billion supplying technologies such as biometric (fingerprint activiated) mobile phones for the illiterate, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) for micro insurance of livestock, and software for microfinance applications. The World Bank3 advises that some 79% or 903 million Indians still live on less than US$2 a day. Likewise, in China there are 47% or 620 million on less than US$2 a day. The Australian Government is currently negotiating Free Trade Agreements with both India and China. An important element of these agreements is that there is stated support from the Australian Government to assist these economies where possible to develop across all industry sectors and income segments of society. Support for Base of the Pyramid business initiatives is one way to demonstrate the Government is intent on spreading the benefits of the bilateral trade to all. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics4, approximately one-third of Australia’s international trade is with emerging markets in the Asia Pacific and that proportion is growing. Total bilateral value with these economies already stands at A$100 billion. Even if a mere 1% of that total is traded with lowincome communities, that would amount to ten times more than Australia’s direct foreign aid to those countries. As the International Finance Corporation details, there is a vast potential marketplace for exporters particularly in the sectors of housing, food & beverage, energy, water, healthcare, ICT and transportation. And as already mentioned, the world leaders are already there. Companies with specific divisions and/or project teams dedicated to the BoP marketplace include the following: Accenture, Anglo American, Asda Stores, Aviva, Barclays, Bechtel Corporation, Bertelsmann, BHP Billiton, Brunswick, Cadbury Schweppes, Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Coca Cola, De Beers, Diageo, EDS, Ericsson, Fedex, GE, Goldman Sachs, Heineken, IBM, KPMG, Louis Vuitton, McKinsey, Microsoft, 3 4 2004 World Development Indicators, The World Bank. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 5368.0 International Trade in Goods and Services Mitsui, PepsiCo, Pfizer, Reuters, Rio Tinto, SABMiller, Sainsbury, Shell, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo, Tata, TNT Express, Unilever, Vodafone and Wal-Mart. A strategic and humanitarian imperative Business activity at the Base of the Economic Pyramid is seen by the United Nations as the only way for the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goals5. Kemal Dervis, UNDP Administrator recently said to an audience of multinational CEOs that “in the race to achieve the MDGs, one of the greatest untapped resources is the private sector. Businesses are engines of growth and sustainable development. Innovative business leaders, both in the North and the South, are changing the way that many businesses operate. They are expanding beyond traditional business practices, to also focus on the needs of those locked out of the global market, bringing them in as partners in growth and wealth creation. Such creative approaches and partnerships are essential in catalysing vibrant new markets that can contribute to advancing inclusive growth and development”6. It should be noted at this point that the Australian Federal Government has become the most recent signatory to the MDG Call to Action, which involves the Business Call to Action7. Government facilitation of companies seeking to do business at the Base of the Pyramid has reputation benefits for Australia as it will be seen as contributing to the development of emerging markets where that development is needed the most – in their low-income communities. It also opens up a huge unexplored marketplace for exporters. And it helps the poor access vital products and services that alleviate poverty. It is therefore both a strategic and humanitarian imperative to support BoP initiatives. As the President of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development Bjorn Stigson has recently stated, “By 2050, 85% of the world’s population of some nine billion will be in developing countries. If these people are not engaged in the marketplace, our companies cannot prosper and the benefits of the global The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. 6 Speech given at the May 6 London Business Call to Action event. Please refer to www.business-callto-action.com 7 See Joint UK-Australia Statement on Global Development at http://www.ausaid.gov.au/hottopics/topic.cfm?ID=9846_8815_2777_5508_1078 5 market will not exist. Clearly it is in our mutual interest to help societies shift to a more sustainable path.”8 Economic Sustainability of the Asia Pacific region PriceWaterHouse Cooper’s report “The World in 2050”9 projects that the fastest growth rates in the world over the next four decades will be found in India then China then Indonesia – all three economies are projected to grow at 2-3 times the rate of Australia over that same period. The majority of that growth will be derived from domestic demand, as the poor at the Base of the Pyramid progressively become low then middle-income consumers. This is a trend Australia cannot afford to overlook. And while Australia is riding a 20 year wave of resource demand off the back of development in India and China, it is critical that consideration be given to the shape of Australia’s trade relations with the emerging markets post-resource boom. As India, China, Indonesia and other emerging markets in Asia become dominant trading partners to Australia, it is vital that the Australian business community develop a deep understanding of how to do business with these countries. These are markets where the majority of the population live off very low income. Most emerging market governments (including China) are wrestling with the issue of twin economies developing between the rich and the poor. What does this mean for the Australian investor or exporter? Organisations such as the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and the Asia Development Bank have enormous intelligence on these markets from the perspective of the majority of their populations. These transnational agencies are increasingly seeking to partner with the private sector to ensure the economic sustainability of the emerging markets. CONCLUSION Business for Millennium Development considers that the low-income communities of the emerging markets in the Asia Pacific provide an opportunity for both new and established exporters to expand their export base with assistance from NGO and Government to benefit the company, the poor and Australia’s international reputation. Australia will be seen as contributing to the development of the emerging markets where it is needed through the core business of its companies. This will help build Australia’s 8 9 Refer www.wbcsd.org “The World in 2050”. PriceWaterhouse Coopers. March 2006. “middle power” leadership position within the region and lead to increased marketplace opportunities for our export community. RECOMMENDATION ONE: That any Australian company seeking to do business at the Base of the Pyramid in the emerging markets of Asia Pacific be given 20 free hours of research undertaken by Austrade offices. The research will be designed to link the company with appropriate Government Departments, NGOs, transnational agencies and local think tanks who can assist them with understanding BoP marketplace opportunities in the target country. RECOMMENDATION TWO: That the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) consider finance and insurance facilities to enable Australian investors and exporters to do business with the Base of the Pyramid where conventional commercial finance and insurance instruments are not available. For further information on this submission, please contact: Mark Ingram Executive Director, Business for Millennium Development Level 15, 470 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia T +613 8319 4011 F +613 8319 4055 M 0407 092 912 E [email protected] W b4md.com.au